The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Florida Election Lawyers all dressed up and no where to go

President Obama easily wins, but Florida still not called. Right now it's Obama up about 45,000 votes or 0.53 percentage points, out of a total of 8.27 million votes, with about 99 percent of the votes counted. This time though it won't matter how Florida ultimately goes... I wonder how all of the election lawyers who were geared up just for this scenario are feeling right now.

So what does Obama's victory mean for the Southern District of Florida. Some quick thoughts:

1. Will Thomas will likely be your next federal judge, but it probably won't happen till the beginning of the year.

2. President Obama will continue to shape this District with intellectual, moderate judges (like Williams, Scola, & Rosenbaum). Same for the 11th Circuit (like Martin & Jordan). There are a bunch of district openings coming up, so we will see if Obama does any better with getting judges confirmed quickly in his second term.

3. Willy Ferrer will stay on as U.S. Attorney. It will be interesting to see whether he stays for the entire 4 years.

The Department of Justice is protecting the integrity of Florida's electoral process -- one Canadian threat at a time!http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-11-11/news/fl-non-citizen-voted-20121111_1_federal-elections-citizen-presidential-election

The Southern District of Florida blog was started in 2005 by David Oscar Markus, who is a criminal trial and appellate lawyer in Miami, Florida. He frequently practices in federal courts around the country, including his hometown, the Southern District of Florida and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a former law clerk to then-Chief Judge of the District, Edward B. Davis.